excrete
Americanverb (used with object)
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excretes,
present (3rd person singular)
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excreted,
past participle, past
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excreting
present participle
verb
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to discharge (waste matter, such as urine, sweat, carbon dioxide, or faeces) from the body through the kidneys, skin, lungs, bowels, etc
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(of plants) to eliminate (waste matter, such as carbon dioxide and salts) through the leaves, roots, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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excretesimple
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excretessimple
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have excretedperfect
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has excretedperfect
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am excretingprogressive
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are excretingprogressive
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is excretingprogressive
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have been excretingperfect progressive
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has been excretingperfect progressive
Past
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excretedsimple
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had excretedperfect
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was excretingprogressive
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were excretingprogressive
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had been excretingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of excrete
First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin excrētus “sifted out,” past participle of excernere “to sift out, separate,” from ex- ex- 1 + cernere “to decide, separate, sift”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He’s heard that by exposing it to the perfect cheeseball pop song — upbeat, sincere — it will excrete a natural hallucinogenic: a profitable slime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2024
Excess sugar consumption also causes the body to excrete excess calcium, instead of reabsorbing it in the kidney as the body normally would.
From Salon ● May 1, 2024
Professor Tang's research introduces CAR-T cells that excrete the IL-10 molecule, which is then ingested by the modified T cells.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 4, 2024
A handful of labs are studying bats from other genera, and initial findings suggest they have varying abilities to excrete and transmit the pandemic virus.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 4, 2023
Rabbits will not excrete underground and Kehaar’s habit of fouling his own nest had always disgusted Hazel.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
They discovered N. intermedia produces and excretes many enzymes as it grows.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2024
The snail excretes a juvenile form of the worm, which then has 24 hours to find a mammal host to infect or die, according to Dillman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
Rhodotus palmatus is both veiny and gelatinous and like Bleeding Tooth, it excretes a golden, sometimes ruby goo.
From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2023
It excretes a sticky substance called honeydew that can collect on outdoor furniture.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
“He excretes in prodigious amounts, Karen, not seen on the earth since prehistoric times when dinosaurs let fly,” Ben said.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
“Most of it doesn’t get metabolized, meaning that we don’t extract energy from it, and it passes through and is excreted in the stool,” Fetter said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose are not metabolized by the human body so they are excreted – this is what makes them low-calorie sugar alternatives.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2024
They also showed that about 30% of the seeds excreted by woodlice and earwigs remained viable.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
The eggs are excreted back into the ocean to hatch and begin the cycle again with a new generation.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 4, 2024
Occasionally, they excreted live worms with their bloody stools.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Camels help it spread by eating the pods and excreting them far and wide.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025
He was excreting things he had never seen in his stool before and feeling things he had never felt before.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
Researchers have long known that mammals and birds can play a key role in spreading seeds, often by eating fruit and then excreting the seeds.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
This work supports other published studies demonstrating associations between dogs being fed raw meat and excreting resistant E. coli.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2023
Human beings in there were excreting into steel helmets which were passed to the people at the ventilators, who dumped them.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
